Molybdenite Mine and Geographers Pass

The route starts on the bank of the Maly Vudyavr River by the Vudyavryok River source. You may reach the place by car. Further on, ford the river and hike on a rocky road laid to the Molybdenite Mine in the 1930’s. En route you will enjoy splendid right-side views of Lake Maly Vudyavr Valley and Мountains Poachvumchorr behind it. The road is transected by picturesque brooks flowing down from melting firn basins during whole summer.

As the road ends, there is a path going up to the remains of an old steam-engine that was made in Chicago in 1906. Going on along the slope, you may find the remains of pipes, by which steam was supplied to the mine. Soon you will see two of three shafts jointed by a narrow path going along the rock. The shafts are made in a steep wall of one of the Мountains Takhtarvumchorr cirques. Nowadays, the best samples of molybdenite can be found not in shafts, but at the bottom of the wall, where they were thrown during the mining in the 1930’s.

Turning left from the Molybdenite Mine, you can climb up a large-boulder talus to the rocky Takhtarvumchorr plateau to enjoy fantastic panoramas at both sides – Lake Maly Vudyavr Valley and Lake Imandra. On the plateau you may find dykes of dark green and grey tinguaites of peculiar patterns. The path leads to the steep northern wall of the Geographers Pass, which Alexander Fersman named after first researchers of the Khibiny. Nearby there is a memorial gabion piled by tourists. Having observed the Pass atop, come a little bit back and go down the southern part of the plateau. There is a good path going through the pass to the Lake Maly Vudyavr Valley, a large-boulder one in the upper part.

Pay attention. Molybdenite Mine shafts are made from solid khibinites. Visiting them is not dangerous. However, the path between them along a cliff is very dangerous, especially in rainy and windy weather. The path is narrow and has no railing. From time to time you can see the remains of hand-rails of the 1930’s. Hiking on large-boulder talus is dangerous, especially in the rain.